Garde du Corps

The Garde du Corps was the King of France's household cavalry within the Maison du Roi, with four companies being raised by 1515. The Garde du Corps would serve the king faithfully as his elite cavalry, and its last campaign was the War of the Austrian Succession, with the last battle being the 1747 Battle of Lauffeld. On 1 October 1789, the Garde du Corps' trampling of the French revolutionary tricolor at a banquet at the Palace of Versailles during the French Revolution led to the Women's March on Versailles, and several guardsmen were killed when the palace was stormed. It was disbanded in 1791, although it was briefly reorganized as a 1,500-strong household unit from 1815 to 1830 under the Bourbon Restoration.